The UK hidden fees study has a new transparent "bank" called Zing, kudos to HSBC! 🇬🇧

No improvement from banks. Showing customers their fees is a "consumer duty" merely for the last 3 companies on this list. @TheFCA

Let's have a look at where they're hiding it?! 1/ Let's start with the ones who are making an effort!

The tip: it's behind the tooltip!
@BarclaysUK

1/ As lawmakers and regulators in the UK fly to their summer holidays, some tips for them how to save their money from those who don't follow the law.

Screenshots for those banking with NatWest, Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC, TSB and Starling. 🤓 2/ The text couldn't be any clearer for banks to show customers "currency conversion charges". At least that's what the law makers thought ...

1/ How much interest does your UK bank pay on your current account?

Who do they lend your money to, what if the borrowers can't pay it back?

If the answer is "0%" and "idk" then read on ...
wise.com/gb/blog/intere… 2/ Your pounds are losing value at the rate of 9.3% due to inflation in the UK.

Everything gets more expensive, money is worth less.

1/ @Wise Q2 Mission Update is here.

Our team is 2,600 people now. How much progress did we make towards money without borders, with Wise Transfer, Wise Account, Wise Business and Wise Platform?

The ups, downs and sideways moves in the last three months 👇 2/ We pushed the fees down 💰

830,000 customers and 19 currencies saw transfer fees go down on Wise – bringing the overall average to 0.67%

The light at the end of the Mission Zero tunnel is shining a tiny bit brighter.

On the journey of my first listing, I found out about “risk factors”.

What are these and why should shareholders care?

🧵 1/ A traditional IPO involves a lot of marketing - explaining the company to future shareholders in the best light possible.

It is natural. The more demand is drummed up the higher the share price. The company can sell less shares to get the same amount of money.

Learned a few things in the last month about how company shares start trading on an exchange (in the UK)

I thought it was just writing the prospectus and pressing the button.

But it turned out there is a more intricate process, known as The Dance💃🏼

🧵... 2/ DISCLAIMER

[ This is my personal, recently developed, understanding of how this process works. It may be factually inaccurate. I have no qualifications, nor practical experience of taking a company public. ]

1/ 🇧🇷 Fees on @Wise came down in Brazil!

We removed nearly 1/3 of the cost, going from 1.45% to 0.99%

This is what we're here for.

🧵 read on about how that was possible ... 2/ Banking in Brazil is expensive.
Using money outside of the country is mega expensive for Brazilians.

Let me bring it to life, sending:
EUR from UK costs ca 0.35%
EUR from BR costs ca 2.15% (incl. IOF tax) 🙀

... and this is after we cut nearly 1/3rd of the fees

1/ It occurred to us recently that as a VC backed tech company, we don’t have any customers as shareholders. It’s weird. 🤯

About time to change it 👇🏼 2/ Customers have the strongest understanding of the problems we’re solving with our mission, so it’s natural they should have a say in how Wise is built and run.

1/ Today I welcome two inspiring operators as the @Wise board members:

🇸🇬 Hooi Ling Tan - the co-founder of @GrabSG
🇬🇧 Clare Gilmartin - until recently the CEO of @thetrainline

But why? And how do we think about who should be on our board? 2/ Before I introduce Ling and Clare - let me take share how we built our board from the early days.

Roger Ehrenberg wrote our first cheque on a 2-day trip to NYC after months of “talking to” European VCs.

@infoarbitrage and his partner @beyroutey doing customer support.

1/ @TransferWise Q1 Mission update:

How our team’s been making money work better internationally
⚡️faster,
💸cheaper,
📲 more convenient

All the way from our 1̶6̶ 2000+ “offices” around the world.

PS! We’re very much hiring! 2/ This is not about the pandemic. Yet it shows us that nothing’s more important than our health. Money included.

But money shouldn’t be another thing to worry about. Right now we need it to be exactly where it’s needed, when it’s needed.

https://twitter.com/TransferWise/status/1239935660473139205

1/ @TransferWise Mission Update Q4

When we started 9 years ago in my kitchen, I couldn’t fathom how much progress we could make with 2000 people.

Now I can share a glimpse of the impact we’ve had in Oct-Dec for our 6 million users. 2/ Our mission is making money work without borders. It needs to get

⚡️ faster,
💰 cheaper,
🥰 more convenient

to use your money. Wherever you are.
To pay, to get paid.

1/ @TransferWise’s 2019 Q3 mission update to our 6 million customers:

How much closer did we get to money without borders, progress on:
- speed of transfers
- reducing fees
- more ways to save
- covering the globe

Highlights👇 2/ Speed. Money is moving faster:

24% of our transfers are now delivered to the recipient's foreign bank account in less than 20 sec 🔥

+ 🇺🇸 sending via ACH on the weekend get their money 24h faster

1/ When the ATM or a card machine abroad offers to charge you in “home currency” - it’s not being nice, it is trying to take your money. This is a shady practice called DCC. We now warn when you're tricked into it. 2/ Our research across the European ATMs showed the average hidden fee of 8%. Top 3 DCC contributors:

- Santander: 8%
- Sabadell: 3.5%
- Cashzone: 13%

1/ TransferWise’s 2019 Q2 quarterly ̶e̶a̶r̶n̶i̶n̶g̶s̶ mission report — our update to the 5m-strong customer base who trust us to move £4bn for them a month.

How much closer did we get to money without borders: instant, convenient, transparent, and eventually free?

👇thread👇 2/ Our US based borderless account holders now get a multi-currency debit card. 🇺🇸🚀

transferwise.com/us/blog/transf…

We raised $292m in our 7th funding round.
The company issued no shares and took $0.
It’s the best I’ve ever felt about fundraising.

The cash we raised in prior rounds helped to get here, but this time @TransferWise got something perhaps even more valuable.

Thread. 1/ Our mission is to help people and businesses use their money across borders - make it instant, convenient and eventually cost nothing.

It's really hard.

Spent the last 8 years researching, why sending an email is nearly instant, but moving $$$ is slow like a bad movie. Especially internationally.

👇 Thread below on what we learnt and built. 1/ Most of the world's money lives on accounts in 26,000 banks. "Speed" means how fast it can move from my account to your account. To another bank, often in another country.

Domestic money is pretty fast, we're here to fix the international. 🌍

1/ This is our Q3 update to the @TransferWise community of 4 million people and businesses. Have we made progress on our mission this quarter? Thread below 👇 2/ Reminder. The TransferWise mission is money without borders — instant, convenient, transparent and eventually free. To pay, to get paid, to spend, in any currency, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing. 💰 + ⚡ + 💳 + 🌍.

1/ The equivalent of a Q2 shareholder update, but for the @TransferWise community of 3 million people and businesses. Have we made progress on our mission?

Thread below 👇 2/ The TransferWise mission: money without borders — convenient, instant, and eventually free. To pay, to get paid, to spend like a local, anywhere in the world. 💰 + ⚡ + 💳 + 🌍.